The Artwork Was Amazing

They had a Fender Strat made out of amber! I think it looks pretty cool.

I finally went to the Amber Museum (Gdańsk is famous for amber)!

I like the moose (or elk or whatever it is, I don't know animals)

Fancy places in Gdańsk (we went to 4 museums for our culture day).

The artwork on the ceiling was incredible!

Sisters from our Zone (except for Sister Sloane, but I'll be going to join her in Szczecin today for exchanges).

Elder Jeffs, Sister Woodward and I (we were in the MTC together)

Sister Young and I with Agata from Bydgoszcz :)

Me and the Silver Tree

We got cookbooks :D- I love the Sarma recipe fambam!!

More museumy things (back when the German influence was strong in Gdansk/Danzig)

Me with the Bydgoszcz missionaries- Elders Garrison and Sidwell and Sister Larcade (whom I won't see again until after the mission!)

This week we took our culture day going around some free museums in the old town area (on Długa Street), it was cool to do something that I've not done yet in Gdańsk (I've been in the area for 14 months- been running out of ideas haha). I kept sitting on forbidden chairs at the museums hehe, they didn't have guard rails up, so I thought we could sit on them, but apparently not, because in 2 different museums, the lady would see me and say "We don't sit there!" (in Polish) haha what can I say, I like to sit down! 

In the week we got to meet with a couple of super awesome people, one lady has been out of our branch for a long time because she was living somewhere else, but now she has come back and it was nice talking to her about spiritual experiences and sharing our testimonies with each other. We're so happy to have her back in the branch! We also had a really awesome lesson with one girl about the Plan of Salvation- Sister Young and I love preparing lessons for her, because she's full of questions and really wants to find answers! It's a lot of work trying to learn the vocabulary and grammar to know how to explain things properly to her, so it's good for my Polish too :) I'm so grateful for the opportunities I have here to share my testimony with others, especially about Christ's reality and God's presence in our lives. I feel it so strongly and it's the driving force for my life. Sometimes wish I could just force people to be happy, but I know it doesn't work that way! Living the gospel is a choice, but when that choice is made and commitment is sure, then comes that true inner peace, happiness and direction that we all long for. I'm so grateful to have that in my life :) I love life! And I love you and am so grateful for you (family) for bringing me up the way you did so that I have seen through your examples and have learnt through my own studying and actions, to live life the way I do. Life is great :D

We had our Zone Conference this week in Poznań. We spoke about ways we can use the Christmas season to really focus our efforts and serving others and helping them think of why we celebrate- to really focus on the Saviour. There's a new video from the church regarding Christmas, and we have a lot of pass-along cards to hand out, so we're excited to get people thinking about the importance of Christ and hoping people will watch and share the video with their friends. We're planning on doing some Christmas themed free tables, we'll invite people to go to the church website (with the video for Christmas), we'll sing/play some carols, and of talk to people about why we celebrate Christmas, and what it all means for us as families and individuals. It's a great time of year, and hopefully we'll all have a deeper appreciation for this time and recommit to making our lives Christ-centered. If I can help others (and myself!) do that, I'll be a happy chappy :D

On the train home from conference, we got to talk to 2 guys about our church, it was really cool, the natural way it came up. We had 8 missionaries all on one train coming back (4 going to Bydgoszcz and 4 to Gdansk), so of course people would have been wondering who we were and I'm sure it caught a lot of people's attention (maybe not so natural, haha). After the Bydgoszcz missionaries left (sad moment for me, because I won't see them again!), us and the Elders got to know the people sitting around us on the wagon, and we were able to share with them a little about our church and the Book of Mormon. It's nice to have people tell us that they appreciate what we're doing, and that they respect us. Too often, people are just very cold and harsh to us, and I know it's just because they don't know what we're about, and they give up on us before we have a chance to explain why we're here. I have seen time and time again, that when people take the time to understand why we're here, they respect us, and even enjoy talking with us. I'm thankful for moments I get to show people that I really do care about them, and I'm here because I want to help them (and for sure, others I meet here help me too!). 

Well I'll be going on exchanges today until Wednesday (going to Szczecin) with Sister Sloane, so I'll of course miss Gdansk and Sister Young, but it'll be a great experience I'm sure. Maybe I'll have another good train conversation :D Have a great week, have fun and look after yourselves :D

Love, Sister Grgich